When the three judges for The Story Prize vote for the winner of the award, they write citations for their top choices. This year's judges were writer and editor Elliott Holt, writer Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and bookseller Lucy Yu. We include the citations in congratulatory letters we present to each finalist, along with their checks ($20,000 to the winner, $5,000 to the other two finalists). To protect the confidentiality of the judges' votes and the integrity of the process, we don't attribute citations to any particular judge. Here's what the judges had to say about There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes Jr.:
“Ruben Reyes Jr. shows there is no way to outrun the past. The distance someone attempts to travel away from all the selves they carry is the same distance one must travel from their own physical body. The consequential state of this is a half-lived experience in permanent limbo. There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven portrays the fragility of hunger for convenience and control. Then Reyes Jr. explores the distinct consequences of believing that control can be bought, which causes constant unsettling murmurs in one’s soul. Ultimately, he shows the impossibilities of buying ourselves out of pain while shattering this notion’s associated capitalistic ideals.
Photo: Beowulf Sheehan “This story collection and its anachronistic approach to grief show the ever-present nature of its cyclical appearances even as some characters attempt to run from the feeling. The nonlinear style mimics the blurriness of time as it exists through memories. Reading these stories has shown me there is no easy transactional way to connect with generational past or identity, and it is impossible to skirt around the pain of confrontation. This repeated confrontation of self is a necessary step on the path to the freedom of living in the present moment. This book delicately balances both the profound proudness and guilt of immigrants living completely different lives compared to those of even recent ancestors. These stories caution against the pseudo ideal of assimilating into capitalism that ultimately causes the removal of the history of self and severs the connection to our humanity”
